Chimpy IsNo Fan Of The First Amendment
Q Thanks. Can you just offer a little insight as to why the President would sort of part with his own tradition of not going out to Andrews to greet leaders, and do so for a religious leader, but not having done it for political leaders?
MS. PERINO: Well, obviously, as I said, it’s an historic and important visit.
[snip]
Q How does the White House balance the different elements for an arrival ceremony? Is it a secular head of state arrival? Is it, in part, religious overtones, with the singing of “The Lord’s Prayer”?
MS. PERINO: Well, this is a little bit different, in that the head of state is also the head of the Catholic Church that is visiting the White House. And so I think we’ve struck the right balance, and that it’s perfectly appropriate for the White House to welcome the Pope and have one of the songs performed tomorrow by Kathleen Battle — who we are very happy to have at the White House — she’ll be singing “The Lord’s Prayer.” And many people across America and across the world say that prayer in order to provide themselves comfort and confidence in getting their day started. And so we think it’s perfectly appropriate.
Q Can I just follow?
MS. PERINO: No, I think I’ll go over here to Mark.
Pope Ratzo Is No Fan Of Chimpy’s Vanity War
Q Last year in his Easter message, the Pope said, “Nothing positive comes from Iraq.” How does the President speak to the Holy Father about that subject?
MS. PERINO: Well, they have a relationship that is based on trust and they are able to have frank conversations. I will say that while Iraq has come up in the past when the President has talked to the Pope, as I understand it, they’re not prolonged conversations about it. Obviously there was a difference of opinion back in 2003 and beyond, in subsequent years. But now I think that there is an understanding that with the strategy that’s working in Iraq right now, the most important thing we can do is help to solidify the situation, root it into freedom and democracy so that people of religious minorities — I’m sorry, people of a religious faith who are minorities in their countries can practice freely and be free from persecution. And that is something that they share. I expect them to touch on that a little bit.
Q On the war, do you expect him to say, we just politely disagree, let’s move on?
MS. PERINO: I don’t expect any public conversation about it. But they will have a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office and it’s possible that it could come up; I won’t rule it out. But I don’t think it will be — I don’t think it will dominate the conversation in any way.
[snip]
Q Dana, back to Iraq. I was struck by what you said, that the most important thing we can do now is to sort of — is to basically finish and to bring about peace. And I wonder, does the — will the President try to make that case to the Pope? In other words, even though he may have disagreed with the decision to invade Iraq, will he now try to find common ground in this way to say, look, the best thing we can do there now is —
MS. PERINO: Sheryl, I really don’t think that the President is planning to spend a lot of time talking about the issues of Iraq with the Pope.
Continue reading “Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle”
